The sequel to “Thor” was released this past weekend, and it seemed to fulfill a huge need for a great Superhero movie for this year. Yes, we got “Man of Steel” in the summer but that was slightly disappointing, as was “Iron Man Three” that came out in May (check my YouTube reviews for both, here and here). I’m happy to say that “Thor The Dark World” exceeded expectations and delivered in various aspects. Just like the first “Thor”, the movie was a great mix of action and humor and sci-fi and fantasy with some great performances and some really amazing and unique visual moments.

In the post-“Avengers” world, Thor (the amazingly attractive Chris Hemsworth) has been busy in Asgard making peace in the nine realms while on earth his love interest Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) has been trying to move on with life and forget about her scientific research. Things get a little strange when the nine realms begin to align, creating portals to different worlds, and Jane finds herself lost in and underground cave and infected with the dangerous liquid stone Aether that has been locked away for centuries. This re-awakens an Asgard enemy Malekith who is hell bent on destroying the world, and the action ensues.

All of the familiar faces pop up, Thor’s “adopted” brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is great at bringing some humor into his maliciousness, Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) is hilarious as the nutty professor (which makes sense given what happened to him in “The Avengers”, and like in the previous “Thor” Darcy (Kat Dennings) provides her quirky comic relief. Idris Elba, Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo and a host of others reprise their roles as well and there’s even a small cameo from Captain America’s Chris Evans (a very funny cameo). The whole movie felt very familiar because we were getting back to the people we came to love (or hate) in the first film, but with a new plot line and more action. And this is why action sequels tend to be better than the firsts, the originals set everything up and the sequels are allowed more time for action and story and “The Dark World” definitely falls in line with some other great action sequels.

Chris Hemsworth is amazing and the perfect person for this role with his balance of charm, brute and sincerity. I couldn’t imagine anyone else making this character seem so real and so likable, and definitely no one else could be as sexy in subtle moments like a simple holding of a hand or a smirk. It should also be noted that this sequel was in the hands of a new director Alan Taylor who I feel did a great job, although one complaint might be that the CG was a bit over-used at times. “The Dark World” was just a fun time at the movies, not too serious but not too corny, a nice balance which I feel “Man of Steel” and “Iron Man Three” failed at.

Who isn’t excited for “The Avengers” today!! A HUGE Comic Book flick, and really the first one to merge different franchises together. I can’t wait to see how it turns out, and I should be writing a review soon. But first… here’s something that’s been waiting to get posted for a long while… enjoy!

When it comes to translating classic Comic Book heroes to the big screen, there have been loads of misses and a few great hits. It doesn’t seem like an easy thing to take characters that are decades old with legions of super fans waiting to knock any inconsistency and plot hole. Some film makers try and fail to cater to the fan-boys while some do their own thing to mixed results.
I haven’t seen every single Comic Book film of course, but here’s my attempt to dissect the best and the worst adaptations in the history of film.
(I actually had a listing a few years ago on Flixster, but on this list I’m trying to eliminate Graphic Novels and only talk about the weekly serials that have become iconic over the years. And if I’m wrong about something feel free to leave a comment and let me know)

>> The Worst!
These are the 10 films that for whatever reason did not satisfy the requirements of a great Comic Book translation, or even the requirements of a halfway decent film.

10. The PunisherThe only reason I even know about the Marvel character Punisher is through my Uncle, who was a huge fan. There have been a few attempts to make this violent and controversial comic into a movie and I’ve only seen one. The 2004 Thomas Jane one, and the problem with putting the Punisher on film is simply it can’t work. Unless it’s an Indie film and not aiming for a mainstream crowd, the content is way too risky to work and most times the writers behind the adaptations are too scared to take those risks and it ends up being a stale half-ass version of what made the comic great.

9. Kick AssThank God this movie had Chloë Grace Moretz , the little girl who stole this rather uneventful film about teen heroes. This movie could have been great, but it got really bogged down in trying to be serious at times that a lot of the fun and humor it should have had was totally lost. (And this is where I’m uncertain, I can’t figure out if this was a Graphic Novel or a legit Comic Book! I might have to re-edit!?)

8. Spiderman 3
How to Ruin a Great Franchise 101! 1. Add one too many villains that don’t seem related to each other at all, it will totally ruin the flow of the movie. 2. Endlessly Hype the show down between Spidey and his arch nemesis Venom, and than save it until the very last portion of the movie. 3. Forget about trying to balance dumb slap stick comedy sequences with uber-serious and intense scenes. Just a mess all over.

7. Jonah HexJust couldn’t get into this fantastical Cowboy comic crap, Megan Fox seemed totally mis-cast (and gratuitous), and there was no chemistry between her and star Josh Brolin. The story was actually quite interesting, but the execution just didn’t work.
It came off really cheap and way too contemporary styled to sell the Western feel. (Much like the ill fated campy “Wild Wild West” with Will Smith)

6. SpawnHBO had an excellent animated series based on the gritty comic, I loved that and it made me excited for this live action adaptation. But as with other ultra violent comics, mainstream can never translate them well so it came off pretty cheesy compared to what it should have been. (similar to “Punisher”)

5. CatwomanThis film was built on the fact that Catwoman and Halle Berry are sexy. And, that’s pretty much it. The other components of making a good film were totally missing with it’s flimsy storyline which basically amounted to a few sexed up poses and dozens of un-witty one liners. A cliched love story, an unbelievable villain and some actually uneventful fight scenes. At a point I did try to like this movie, but it truly is just a throwaway.

4. Batman Forever
Joel Schumacher all but ruined the “Batman” franchise Tim Burton rejuvenated. Instead of continuing on the darker, grittier path that Burton set up, Schumacher’s Gotham City was turned into an ultra cheesy, way too colorful, and overloaded Batman chapter. And the sad thing is, he wasn’t done as we’ll see soon enough.

3. Green Lantern
Cheesy graphics, a paint by number cliched script, actors that either phoned it in or just wouldn’t know the words “natural” or “chemistry” if it hit them on the head. Just an awful movie that really had no redeeming qualities at all.

2. Batman and Robin
Yes, “Batman Forever” was bad… but compared to this mess of a movie it looks like “Citizen Kane” (okay that’s going too far, maybe something like “Die Hard 4”). Not only are there way too many villains in this one, but they are third rate villains that most people (unless you were watching the animated Batman series of the time) wouldn’t have known. This film killed the Batman franchise for a while before Christopher Nolan dared to pick it back up. Awful!

1. Daredevil
Let’s see, where to start? This movie was so incredibly bad on so many different levels I don’t even know how to begin. What stands out the most is the awful CGI, than we have to think of the D.O.A. acting job of the consistently bland lead Ben Affleck. And, bottom line, it was just dumb! Boring! Not fun or funny! Absolutely no good qualities at all (maybe Colin Farrell, but there’s only so much one actor can do in a movie like this), not only is this my worst Comic Book Movie… but it ranks as one of my Worst Movies of All Time!

>>The Best!
So clearly, these are the few that actually got it right!

10. Batman Returns
Tim Burton’s dark “Batman” was revolutionary, and even though this sequel was just a skoche lighter, it still maintained the gritty world invented in the first film. This script was surprisingly original and new, with very interesting origin stories for the main villains. On top of that, the film was perfectly cast which is probably the main selling point. Danny DeVito was perfect as the creepy Penguin and Michelle Pfieffer treaded the line perfectly from a mouse-y secretary to a sexy fearless (sort of) villain. Christopher Walken’s role is also a great component to make this film worthy of the top 10

9. Thor
I think of Thor as an extremely complicated story to put on the screen. Where this could have fallen apart totally, the team really did their best to make it flow well and get a lot of information out without slowing down the overall feel of the movie. Add great acting as a selling point, in fact some of the stuff that hit the cutting room floor actually proves how good of an effort this was. It combines a mythological world with a scientific world and the real world effortlessly. And there’s no way they could have cast a better leading man as Hemsworth owned this role.
8. The Dark Knight
I had deemed this movie overrated when it was ridiculously hyped upon release, and I still think the last half hour was a mess … but the rest of the movie is undeniably flawless. Visually it’s dark, but still stunning. The writing is very clever and well thought out, and who can deny Heath Ledger’s spine chillingly scary Joker. It’s not the perfect film Fan Boys would like us to believe, but for what it does get right it is pretty frikkin phenomenal.
7. Iron Man
An atypically adult and mature super hero film. There’s actually not a lot of action as compared to the films running time, but what you get is real fleshed out characters dealing with very real (okay, let your imagination run wild a little bit) situations that are relevant in the real world. And Robert Downey Jr is flawless as the rich boy you want to hate but can’t help but love.

6. Superman
Classic! It’s one of the first big budget comic book movies to really be taken seriously. The effects were good for the time, but luckily they didn’t over-use them because the movie really does still stand up some 30 years later. Richard Donner’s Superman has lots of heart, great casting, and just overall a lot fun. Like what a Comic Book is supposed to be.

5. Captain America
Much like “Thor” (and frankly all of the films leading up to the avengers), “Captain America” had so much plot and character details to get through you’d think it would totally fall apart. However this film has almost a perfect balance of action, drama, character development, humor and intensity.

4. X2
X-men is such a great comic book series, it’s really a shame that most of the film adaptations thus far have been a little lack luster. With the big exception of “X2”, which totally grabbed viewers with the intense and non stop opening scene. By the very suspenseful and climactic end, you feel the film might have been too short. What this film had the other two lacked was that this was all about the action.

3. Batman
This is actually my favorite movie of All Time, simply because director Tim Burton took a totally new approach to the comic book genre. Flipping the corny Batman TV series of the 60’s and turning into a supremely dark and edgy suspense filled thriller with lots of humor with great visuals. This movie really, in my mind, changed the landscape of the comic book flicks and should be celebrated for taking a risk and setting a new trend.

2. Spiderman 2
1. Spiderman

The first two Spiderman movies make the top of my list because I think Sam Raimi and company did the best job of really bringing the comic book feeling to the big screen to life. There’s a certain life to both films that resembles that of an actual comic book, plus some of the visual techniques look like a comic book page re-created. Add to that it’s a fast paced, funny movie with some more than capable actors.

I’m back.Anyone who follows my blog knows that I was a little discouraged and frustrated the last couple of weeks. The plan was to just change up this blog, since “everybody” talks about Music and Entertainment and my adding to the repetitiveness resulted in me not having any subscribers and limited amount of user comments. However, now I’ve decided that I’m just going to start a whole new blog to discuss things I think are interesting, or my social commentary, or just to talk about myself. I think it will be fun, informative, and at times negative, but it’ll be a totally different type of blog than this one.When I set that up, I’ll let you know. With Music and Movies, I LOVE Entertainment and I don’t feel like I should deprive myself of blogging about things I do enjoy and love, just because I’m not getting enough hits. So I will continue the blog as it is, and if people want to read it or not it doesn’t matter.

Right now, I want to talk about the Summer finally coming to me in the Fall.
Since I rarely go out and see movies anymore, I generally have to wait for the ones I wanted to see come on video. This past week, two of the films I was really excited to see were released on Blu Ray. And I’m happy to report that neither film disappointed, and one actually exceeded my expectations.

First, released last Friday, “X-Men: First Class“. Since Junior High, I’ve been a huge fan of the X-Men but been a little underwhelmed by the film adaptations. With the exception of “X2” (which I regard as one of the best Comic Book movies ever), the other films weren’t terrible but they never worked 100% for me. Whether it was the casting, or the writing, or the pacing that didn’t work it’s not clear… just something was off about most of them (I think maybe they were a little too cheesy!?).

“X-Men: First Class”, a pre-quel to the first “X-Men” movie, was a film I was interested in but iffy about based on the other films in the series. Where the idea of the formation of the X-Men could work and be totally interesting; it could also easily fall apart and become the worst in the franchise. Luckily, while it’s not the best of the series it’s clearly not the worst. For the most part, the film works really well and accomplished most of what it set out to.

While I feel like the story could have been developed a little more, and there were pockets that could have used a little more action, overall it’s a decent film. And with so much back story and character introductions needing to be uncovered, decent is a real compliment. Of everything, I think I was most surprised with the acting. Not only were the two leads, James McAvoy as young Professor X and Michael Fassbender as young Magneto, perfectly cast but even the peripheral characters gave some pretty realistic and gritty performances.

The biggest complaint might be that it felt more like the Magneto story, with everybody else as supporting players. Magneto does have the most interesting character arc of them all though, going from a kid treated like a lab patient because of his gifts to a revenge fueled adult. Than meeting Professor X and softening up and using his powers for good (for a moment) gave Fassbender a lot to chew on and he more than did his part. McAvoy’s Professor X is a charming and convincing guy who can talk to anybody and who is well liked by most. There’s a few interesting bits with him, but for the most part there wasn’t much change or growth with this character the entire movie.

Also surprisingly great were Jennifer Lawrence as the conflicted Mystique, and Nicholas Hoult as the pre-beastly Beast did a acceptable job (although I feel like Beast’s story was wrapped up a little too quickly, there could have been a better development instead of “bam!!! I injected myself with something and now I’m BEAST!”). And while Kevin Bacon’s villain was over the top (.com), his partner in crime Emma Frost, played seductively with a hint of tragedy by January Jones, made his scenes more watchable with her beauty and visually stunning mutation.

There’s some interesting stuff in “First Class”, and it could make for interesting follow ups. However, “X2” remains the best X-Men movie thus far and until a director or writer channels the energy and pacing of that movie the X-Men series will always have a big question mark attached.

While I could nitpick with “X-Men: First Class”, I find it hard to think of anything wrong with “Thor” which was released on Blu Ray just yesterday. Funny enough, I wasn’t all that familiar with the comic book hero “Thor” other than a brief (but pivotal) appearance in 80’s Teen Comedy “Adventures in Babysitting”. However when I saw the previews (and knowing it’s Star), it shot right up as one of the movies I wanted to see MOST this year. And not only did the film not disappoint, but it really exceeded my expectations in so many ways.

Sure some things were a little cliche (the whole “my brother is my enemy” thing — I guessed that from the very beginning), but hell it’s a fantasy super hero movie so you can’t expect it not to be a little predictable here and there. What the film excels at more than overshadows all of the minor shortcomings. The direction, the writing, the pacing, the humor, the action, the costumes, the art direction, the acting. “Thor” is the perfect total package, and on top of all of that, the whole feel of the movie was slightly different than the norm. It wasn’t just a super hero movie, it was part that and part Fantasy. Almost like a futuristic “Lord of the Rings” type movie, cross bred with a more urban and realistic comic book flick.

First things first though, the star of the movie deserves some major praise. Chris Hemsworth, who had a small but really effective role in 2009’s “Star Trek”, was the perfect guy to take on this job. Not only is he extremely attractive, with the physique of a god, he actually possesses some strong acting chops which the writing helped him showcase. Where at first he’s the charming yet super cocky and arrogant heir to the throne of his interstellar home land Asgard, he develops into a caring and humbled man towards the end. The transformation is subtle, yet you want to root for him the entire time.

If there’s any problem with “Thor” is that maybe it was a little too short (and at over two hours, that’s a big compliment to the film). The reason I say this was because the relationship with Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster wasn’t developed enough. And I normally scoff at forcing love interests in places where it’s not necessary, but the chemistry between Hemsworth and Portman worked so well I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of it.

Overall, “Thor” was an excellent film that managed to take a pretty complicated story and make it flow so well. Hemsworth established himself as a star to look out for in the future, and Portman further proved she’s great in any role. The supporting cast was just as good, all these huge stars like Anthony Hopkins, Idris Elba and Rene Russo did the impossible and made their fantasy characters feel real. Tom Hiddleton also did a great job as the villain, while Kat Dennings did enough with her small role to add a little humor and contemporary lingo.

Just an all around great flick, one of the reasons people go to the movies in the first place. Pure entertainment, but with some actual care and creativity put into it.

Here are the other Summer movies I can’t wait to check out:

Captain America The First Avenger (the final flick leading up to “The Avengers” which I’m completely excited for)Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two (this probably won’t be released until near Christmas, but I have to see it. Not such a big fan, but just to see how it all ends)Hangover 2 (I saw this and loved it on bootleg, can’t wait to own it)Cars 2 release date: 11/1 (LOVED the first, and LOVE Pixar. So it’s a win-win)Super 8 (Heard great things about this, and heard bad things. Eager to judge for myself)Fast Five release date: 10/4 (Yup, I was a big fan of the first film… and to see everybody back together will be fun)Crazy Stupid Love release date: 11/1 (the only RomCom or Dramedy I was at all interested in this summer)Rise of the Apes (Surprisingly I heard a lot of good things about this, so maybe it will redeem itself after the majorly disappointing Tim Burton stab at the franchise)Transformers Dark of the Moon release date: 9/30 (Well I watched the first two and lightweight enjoyed them, so why not)